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Here’s the latest from our London-based editor Justine
Naturalists and art lovers are in for a treat with the stunning exhibition Ghosts of Gone Birds. Ghosts is the brainchild of filmmaker Ceri Levy and Chris Aldhouse of Goodpilot and an exhibition which captures and celebrates extinct bird species and raises awareness and funds for conservation. The show includes over 300 pieces created by an army of 120 artists, writers and musicians (see the full list here and all proceeds from the show will aid conservation through Bird Life International.
Those who can’t catch the show in London can still purchase some of the gorgeous prints through the online shop, but I would strongly recommend heading down to see this amazing show in person if you can. The exhibition runs until November 23rd at the Rochelle School in Shoreditch, full details here. In the meantime, take a look at the show through our eyes with our photo gallery of personal highlights and Ghost’s facebook page.
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Thanks, Veuve Clicquot, our Milano Design Week sponsor! We adore their new origami inspired ice bucket, Clicq’up.
Spotted in Milan, the mesmerizing Flylight, by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta (Studio DRIFT) in collaboration with engineers Klaas van der Molen and Luuk van Laake. It is a beautiful light installation composed of 160 glass tubes. The tubes light up and respond to the viewer and was inspired by the movements of a flock of birds. Each light is programmed with digital DNA and responds individually to the presence of viewers. Ultrasonic sensors detect the distance between viewers and installation, causing the ‘flock’ to react differently as visitors come closer or approach the installation in different configurations. To make sense of it fully you have to check out the video and pics on the next page!
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We’re so in love with and inspired by nature here at NOTCOT ~ Here’s another peek into the world of our resident zoologist and editor, Justine! So amazing and adorable to see how these little birds come to be! Oooh and you can follow her on twitter now ~ @NotCritters… say hi!
With spring on its way, it’s time to get ready for the bounty to come. Here are some photos of the adorable blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) family that made their home in a nestbox on my office balcony last summer. Take a peek at their growth from eggs to fluffy teenagers on the next page!
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Mesmerizing isn’t it? The most amazing things come through from the CIA - just discovered this in my email from their newsletter! The beauty and simplicity of these gifs are sucking me in tonight. So so beautiful, and Richard Wilkinson basically captures his work flow in photoshop - saving them into high res animated gifs you can view on his blog! It’s as if you’re watching the image paint itself… yes, it’s nearly 3am, and you’ll see why i’ve gone quiet the last few days as i’ve been obsessively working on the giveaways and gift guides launching this week… but for now… aren’t these incredible? These beautiful illustrations were for a 5 page spread for The Telegraph Magazine’s ‘Luxury’ supplement. See a few more of my favorites and a peek at the spread on the next page…
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Took a little walk down to the British School of Falconry at Gleneagles today (ok, so, i crossed the maze of hedges - seriously, like a maze for kids to play in - and the tennis courts, and was at the falconry school!) ~ and it was absolutely mesmerizing watching the birds that were out in the viewing cages! So gorgeous… there’s something incredibly inspiring about these stunning birds of prey… also, i realized they almost always look sad/angry, but do make some impressively stern expressions… and i took a ton of pics. There are Steppe Eagles, Golden Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and Harris Hawks. Go take a peek on the next page for some falconry fun!
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It was absolutely breathtaking to see the Lladró Parrot Party Collection in person (They launched in January at Maison et Objet). They are spectacular, and they truly capture those moments of curiosity, intrigue, and playfulness parrots are known for… and the pairing with such modern yet simple shapes and colors, mixtures of matte and glazed glossy porcelain goodness create such fascinating contrasts. This is apparently the first collection in the Lladró Atelier concept, “a world of new experiences in porcelain under the guidance of Jaime Hayon, conceived to showcase the creative potential of the brand’s designers.” As a contrast to the usual press photos, and while i still insist these are worth seeing in person if possible ~ take a peek on the next page of how incredible i found the details and lifelike character of the Parrots!
p.s.
So far when asked what my favorite thing is at ICFF ~ this is what jumps to mind!
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It was one of those nights. Just needed something amusing and random to do ~ so a late night adventure with Linhchi meant scheming over the fire pit at Johnnies, then suddenly going to Home Depot to buy spray paint, popping by the other house to grab some penguins… then to the garage! To lay on lounge chairs, take silly pictures (testing out my new purse cam the d-lux 4 ~ it makes some impressively pretty colors, esp in low light), and spray paint tester pieces of a sad broken puma penguin… we learned things like, penguin looks awesome just about anywhere… lacquer and gloss weren’t working so well… light coats of matte seem ok, but needs a few coats and then some clear gloss… perhaps tomorrow in the hot sun we’ll try spraying down a whole penguin… but as for tonight, the pictures looked adorably eerie as the purple penguin cast poignant shadows and sprayed down pieces of his orange friend. or enemy. you can make up your own backstory. See the pics on the next page!
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One team of the Puma Penguin Army stands guard in my house, roaming between the hallway and office, to the media center and fireplace… a second team has gone on an adventure with the amazing Birds of a Feather photo-blog photographers Lou Mora and Sarah Yates. Where they will go and what they will get up to is in their hands now! First i got a mysterious messaged that they were getting carded by security… next i get these pictures. Somewhere on their roadtrip between LA and San Diego they seem to have stopped off outside the refineries near El Segundo… See the super fun pics on the next page!
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Solar Birdhouse!!! Finally! Well, kind of. Here's the latest from Oooms ~ they describe their Solar BIrdhouse: "Why would only humans make use of eco-friendly technology? Studio OOOMS designed a birdhouse with a solar panel on it's roof. During the day sunlight feeds the solar panel, charging a small battery inside. At nighttime the transparent stick will light up and shed a tiny light on your garden. This light attracts an easy nighttime snack for the bird; all she has to do is stick her beak out of the hole and wait for the buzz."
As a slight side note ~ firstly, i'm super excited to hear this idea in production ~ i've been doodling and ranting with friends about the possibilities with solar power and bird feeders for some time now ~ my idea was more 24-hour-diner of feeders (less house like) ~ where in the day birds could get their usual munchies taken care of, and at night the light would attract bugs... but then most discussions got shot down by some of our resident biologists saying how it may turn into more of a bat feeder at night since they'd be the nocturnal residents most interested in the bugs... but that could also be pretty interesting! I also played with the ideas of bird feeders by day, lanterns at night... it would be so fun to have a playful project seeing what fun, functional, unexpected uses for solar energy in small scale products we could come up with!
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Have you noticed that when i go on "vacation" and attempt to take a break, it doesn't exactly mean a complete break from posting (versus other sites)? Rather, it's more like you get dragged along on the break with me ~ and get to see "vacation" content of sorts? Well i hope you don't mind, but here's one more to amuse you!
So i've been in Virginia the last few days ~ Earlysville/Charlottesville to be precise ~ and its been interesting, i never thought i'd find vermont so designy and inspiring ~ but Virginia, not so much. It has however been an incredible place to run into TONS of critters of all shapes and sizes ~ from gaggles and gaggles of canadian goslings/geese, deers - eating and running through the forest, a huge Northern Black Racer - Coluber constrictor (it was getting attacked by mocking birds in the driveway when we got back!), an awesome little toad, turtles (big and little! attacking a half fish), tons of fish, a heron, caught some frogs eggs, put some reservoir bryozoans in the fish tank, chipmunks, squirrels, bunnies, blue tailed skinks, beaver dams (but no beavers...), chickens, cows, and other livestock... and much more as we went on a canoe trip on the reservoir, little hikes and walks, and just finding things in the yard!
I think i'm also getting sick possibly, and/or ready to get back to socal (its been about 3 weeks away now i think)... so i wanted to do more posts for you tonight, but really just having a hard time staying awake and upright at the moment. So next best thing? I thought perhaps you'd like a little photo series on the next page to get a feel for what Virginia has been like for me, and how pretty and nature filled the trip has been! Enjoy! Theoretically i'll be driving up to Washington DC and hopping a plane to LA on the 3rd...
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There is nothing like a yellow box with a ball on a string hanging off of it and the hint of a secret door... it might as well have screamed "PULL ME". So we did. And i couldn't stop laughing when out popped a porcelain cuckoo bird offering me a condom in its beak. So i let go, then pulled it again. Perhaps i'm still a 5 year old, but it was amusing! Susanne Hangaard's Cucoon ~ silly play on words, craziest, yet most adorable condom dispenser i've seen.
Now just imagine being right in the moment, and as your partner goes to reach for a condom, instead they pull a string and out *pops* a porcelain cuckoo? Would it kill the mood? Help you fall faster for the playful design geek? Personally, i'm not sure how i'd react... other than a fit of giggles. My only complaint, why can't it refill itself? Teach the bird to get its own condoms... its a bit high maintenance to have to refill it one by one... also, it could make for a fun business card dispenser (if only it could refill itself!). More pics on the next page!
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Catch up with the latest from London with our UK-based editor Justine.
On shows not to miss ~ 
More discoveries from 
Popped by 
Justine went to check out the incredible 
I love 
So you’ve seen how beautiful my dad’s 
Another 
While i’m a bit swamped in the UK ~ Linhchi has been playing with the penguins at my house in LA… and put together our second “Dear NOTCOT,” postcard! The 
How beautiful are these "hand-foiled plant labels" that 
Super cute prints just showed up in my inbox... and since we seem to be quite the bunch of animal lovers/biologists, i couldn't resist sharing these 
